Rutherford Rankin

Books:

BIOGRAPHY:

Rutherford Rankin is the author of Fighting Against Gravity and co-author of Irreparable. He has also worked as a journalist, copywriter, and ghost writer under his own and other names.

Rankin was born in southwest Kansas and grew up in Satanta, Kansas. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Emporia State University. He also holds a master of arts degree from New Mexico State University. He currently lives in Roswell, New Mexico (yes, that Roswell).

Believing that every story has an audience and deserves an opportunity to be shared with the world, Rankin co-founded Michelkin Publishing in 2016. He serves as president of the company as well as the acquisitions editor. Rankin also works at Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell as a student services director.

Eleven Questions:

Describe Your Desk:

As far as composure, my desk is a hand-built desk. We built it one winter during a horrible blizzard. I call it our sanity saver because during that storm we weren’t able to leave the house for several days. Working on this desk kept us from going too crazy while we were waiting for the snow to melt or be cleared from the streets.

Organizationally, my desk is about half organized, half shambles. I tend to have things that I’m done working on well organized. If it’s something I’m still working on, it’s probably a little haphazard. However, if you ask me for something in a pile on my desk, I bet I can find it within a minute.

What's the Story behind your latest book?

My latest book is a cooperative effort with a friend of mine who came up with the idea. She originally hired me to be a ghostwriter on the project, but about halfway through I decided I didn't want to be a ghostwriter, I wanted to co-write the book with her. We collaborated on the book to develop the story into what we believe is an amazing story.

When we started writing Irreparable together, it was her story idea. I'm really happy with the way things turned out, because the story really turned out great and it became our story creation. She had never written anything before, so it was really fun working together and seeing her develop as a writer from the first draft to final stages of editing.

What is the greatest Joy of Writing for you?

The greatest joy of writing for me is taking a story or concept in my head that excites me and getting it on paper (or computer screen) to share with other people. I’m not totally naive; I know that not every reader will find my story compelling, nor will every reader connect to my story. However, I really do think there is an audience out there for every work and I really hope that when I write something it will resonate with whatever audience makes that connection.​

When I was in college I was an education major and I remember someone saying once that if you’re going into teaching for the money, you’re in the wrong field for the wrong reason. I think that’s true of writing as well. If you’re becoming a writer because you think you’ll get rich overnight and find immediate success, you’re in it for the wrong reason. If you’re in it because you want to share a story with others, then I think you’re on the right track. If you’re in it because you want to make a connection with your audience then I think you’ve got it figured out. I write because I love it. I may never become rich as a writer and that’s okay.

What are you working on next?

As far as my solo projects, I have three projects in progress. One is still in the very early stages and it’s about a woman with severe agoraphobia and her perception of the world around her. Another in the very early stages is a sort of medical mystery story based around the concept of camping. It sounds strange, but if it pans out it could make a really interesting story.

The solo project I’m really about to pour my heart into, though, is called Morton-Stevens County Line. It’s a story of rural Kansas based in the 1930s. The main characters will be based on my ancestors who were alive at that time trying to get by in one of the hardest times in our country. I didn’t get the chance to meet a lot of my ancestors because many of them had passed away before I was born or shortly thereafter. I’ve heard stories about their struggles during that time period as well as their generosity to others. Since I never got to meet them, I plan to take the stories I’ve been told and morph that into a historical fiction story of each family leading up to them all meeting together at the county fair. I think it will be interesting to develop those characters and make them into the people I never got to meet.

What is your writing process?

Honestly, it's not as organized as I'd like it to be. I come up with a lot of ideas for stories that never see the light of day. For those that do, I generally try to do a basic outline and chronology so I know the order I want things to go. Once the outline is going, I just start writing.

When I write a character, I generally already have an idea of how they look and act in my mind because I sort of base a lot of my characters on people I've met before. As I'm writing I try to ask myself how that person would think or how they would feel if they were in this situation. What kind of emotional state are they in? You really have to put yourself in the mind of that character and I really love that part because I almost get to pretend I'm someone else in my head.

As I'm writing, I don't always stick to my outline. If I want to add or subtract or go a completely different route, I do. It's not very disciplined, but sometimes when I'm writing I just get an idea I can't pass up.

Once the first draft is done I like to take some time away from the work to let it become a little less familiar to me. Then I go back and reread and edit. If I don't take that break from it, I can't move forward.

Who are your favorite Authors?

Growing up I really loved anything by Caroline B. Cooney. I loved her thrillers and found them really compelling and unique. I also really liked all the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’ve always liked reading about different time periods and I loved reading about what life was like at the time she lived.

During college, I was a Spanish literature major so I read a lot of Spanish literature and became a huge fan of anything with magical realism. Gabriel Garcia Marquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude) and Juan Rulfo (Pedro Paramo) are two of my favorites as well as Rudolfo Anaya (Bless Me, Ultima).For a while, I went through a big humor and comedy phase and fell in love with anything by David Sedaris and I'm very excited that he has a new book coming out. I truly wish I had the talent he does for telling a hilarious story anyone could connect to and find funny. His use of sarcasm won me over and he is one of those writers who you really feel like you became friends with as you read his work.

What do you read for pleasure?

I'm the acquisitions editor for Michelkin Publishing, so most of my reading is just submissions to our company from authors. It's very enjoyable because I get to read a lot of different styles and unique plots I probably wouldn't otherwise have read.

Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?

When I was really small we lived in a literal ghost town once known as Wilburton near Elkhart, Kansas. There were about three or four other families that lived there, including my grandparents. There weren't many other kids around besides me and my two older siblings. We played outside a lot when we were little and that's where I guess I first started coming up with stories as we played.

Just before kindergarten, we moved to the small town of Satanta, Kansas. I laugh when people describe a small town as 10,000 people. Satanta has just over 1,000 people, so it's really small. In a truly small town everyone knows you and everyone knows your business. There are few secrets. That meant if you were different in any way from what was expected, you generally had a rough time. With that said, however, I will say that the sense of community in a town of that size is truly amazing. Even though you might be bullied by someone at school today, tomorrow they could be standing next to you to defend you from someone else's bullying. It's honestly very strange to me now thinking back, but there were so many good memories of that little town that I don't know that I would change growing up there if I was able to.

The way that influenced me is that growing up in that sort of environment taught me how to feel and how your actions can make others feel, especially in a tight-knit group like that where you really can't escape your situations or consequences. I know a lot of people who grew up in cities or even just much bigger towns and they don't seem to have the same level of empathy that I grew up learning and feeling. It's really just nonexistent for them and I really do believe it has to do with their environment. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but if I had to choose to have empathy or not, I would certainly choose to be empathetic.

When did you first start writing?

I don’t know an exact time, but I do remember when I was in the third grade I asked for a typewriter for Christmas and I got it. It seems like a strange gift for a kid that age to ask for, but I wanted it because I wanted to write stories. I actually remember sneaking into my parents’ room and looking under the bed for the Christmas gifts that were hidden there and seeing the box for the typewriter. I was so excited!I remember writing stories on that typewriter, too. I don’t remember what any of them were, but that was probably when I first started writing. After that, I wrote stories off and on when I was bored. In high school, I had a few classes that really helped me develop more as a writer. The first was our sophomore English class, and our teacher, Mrs. Burrows, was a genius when it came to the mechanics of English. I know I still make a lot of grammar mistakes, but I’m glad I have a good foundation and she’s responsible for a lot of that. During my senior year, her husband, Mr. Burrows, was my English teacher and he really gave us a lot of freedom as far as writing topics and genres. I did a lot of creative writing in his class and I think that really helped me develop that part of my writing.​When I was in high school I was also in yearbook class for two years and newspaper for one. That gave me a chance to do both writing and design and I will be forever grateful to Mrs. Hanson for that opportunity and for sharing her wealth of knowledge with us to make us better journalists and graphic designers. Journalism writing is very different from creative writing, but the goal of making a connection with your audience is still shared between the two. She encouraged us to make that connection in both writing and visual media and I really feel like it contributes to my work every day no matter what I’m doing.

Do you remember the first story you ever read and the impact it had on you?

It’s funny because I was just thinking about this one day and I realized that I learned to read in one of those old “Dick and Jane” books. I don’t know where it came from, but I remember finding it one day and taking it to my mom and sitting with her and having her help me sound out the words. I was so proud when I was able to finish that book. My mom really encouraged us to read when we were little. She would take us to the library because she knew how important it was for us to have knowledge and she knew books held that knowledge.

​My mom would have made an amazing teacher and I think she actually did want to do that at one time. However, today she runs a school library and still encourages those school kids to read. She challenges them to read a certain number of books and she participates in the challenge. I think it’s amazing because she’s been influencing kids to read for as long as I’ve been around at least.

What inspires you to get out of bed each day?

Truly and honestly, just the fact that I woke up. Every day really is a gift and we never know which one will be our last. Sometimes I forget this when I’m having a bad day, but karma usually comes around to remind me that my life isn’t quite as bad as some other people’s lives are and that I need to suck it up. I’m actually thankful for that reminder because it keeps me in line.

I hear stories about people staying in bed all day and I just can’t imagine doing that. How can you waste a day that way?